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Topic: Bee Tree Trapout w/big hole (Read 2167 times)

Hey everyone,I'm on my second trapout (I have not posted about the first one yet) and I understand all the steps and what is required but this one brings up a question for me. Usually when I read about trapouts they are trapping from a small entrance, but this one I am about to start has a huge hole and is at the base of an old oak. The entrance on this one will be about 24" tall and about 16-20 inches at the bottom. The shape is a triangle with the wide part at the bottom.

So my question is about how to seal it off? Should I be thinking a big piece of plywood, or a mat of hardware cloth with a small piece of plywood holding the cone in the center? My thoughts are: the big piece of plywood is going to be difficult as the tree is round and will make sealing the edges difficult, the mat of hardware cloth covering the whole thing seems better but I don't know if that will cause some sort of problem for them getting out and stuff.

Any suggestions on these two options? I managed to bug out of there after my initial inspection without taking any preliminary pictures but will get some when I go back to do the deed.

I promise to post about the first one soon as it is in it's third week and prolly needs another box and some more eggs. But that's another post.

See ya, and thanks for the assistance upfront.Superhoney!

PS I did take some video of the first one and want to know if anyone knows of a good, free video editing software to piece the video clips together, add text etc.

I just use the hardware cloth when the hole is large. Just try to locate the cone where the most traffic is.

Most computers come with some sort of video software installed (like windows live movie maker). Check through your files.

Scott

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"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

I have Vista which has Movie Maker, but have been stumped by a codecs error it throws during file imports. I'm not sure what codecs it is asking for, or requiring to import the video files. I think I now hate Vista more than ME...if that is possible.

My little digital camera takes .MOV files, and I have moved onto trying to convert them first to something else, but have not proceeded with that yet as I am superbee busy these days. (Is also why I have not posted my vids of the first tree trapout!) I've checked the MS site, and others and haven't come up with any good ideas yet on what codecs I should be looking to install either.

Thanks for the advice! I'll lean in the hardware cloth direction then. I'm making the cone today and starting the trap Friday.

I used concrete on this one. It worked very well. I sealed up the whole entrance and drilled a 3/4 in. hole above it.

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"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

A buddy of mine did one on a large tree that had lots of large openings. He ended up using an old Persian rug, put a hole in it and put the cone over that. It worked real well. He made 2 hi es from it. Jim

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"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."--Mark Twain

I've got a similar entrance to a bee tree that I'm going to set up for tomorrow. I'm going to use election sign board which is flexible. I'll secure it to the tree with screws at the edges. I'll cut a hole towards the top and put a metal tube in the hole. I'll place a super in front and connect the metal tube to a two inch hole in the back of the super. The bees travel through the metal tunnel and super to reach the outside. This is the trapout technique Cleo Hogan promotes.

My Cleo Hogan trapout last week, without any brood placed as a lure, had a laying queen in it after a week and I now have a new hive.

Do you have problems with the drones getting clogged up in the cone ? I am in the process of a trap out on a tree now and it has started to be a pain to keep it open from the dead drones they are cleaning out and plugging up the cone.

Sparky-So far I have not had dead bee in the cone issues. I tried to envision what two drone widths would be and came up with the size of my little finger, so, to me, this has been a good size to shoot for when rolling a cone. This size may be a little big, but I also had frayed the end of the cone to discourage re-entry that way. Maybe these two things are having success together.

Of course I only have one trapout up and running with a cone, and this one starting tomorrow is my second so my experience is a little low at the moment. But I am following all that I learned here on this site which has been awesome, very clear and helpful.

Ok so I went and did this 2nd trapout today (6-1-12) and the HO neglected to tell me they had tried to fog bomb them out of the tree. I saw the cans deep in the tree when I poked my veiled head inside the hole. Crrraap. I still set everything up and will rescue them from the hell they have been subjected to and deliver them to a nice remote clover field.

I did take pictures but the camera is in the truck and I will post them tomorrow or so, I might even upload the video!

Overall it went ok. I had a difficult time sealing the top of the hole as it went waay back into the back of the tree, but I think I got it all buttoned up. I'll be popping by hopefully with a queen cell tomorrow as my schedule on the first trapout has been escalated and I should have some hangers ready to go already.

If you know they've been poisoned don't let them rob out the honey in the end. Just take them away and leave the honey to the ants.

Scott

Logged

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Inside the hole, here you can see the pesticide cans the pest control jerk used:

The cone placed along with the hive. I did get the cone closer this time but still is a little high I think. They are using it though and I'm scheduled to go over and check them soon. The HO said the cone was clogged with dead ones, so they cleared it with a stick for me.

That's it so far. These were the calmer bees I'd love to have the queen from. Perhaps the Cleo trapout hive would be good for that, maybe next time.

I hope it works for you. Here is a quote from one of my posts. I have found it helps.

"On site, I set the platform, level from side to side,tilted slightly to the front. I then set the catch box where the"porch" area can be slid against the plywood cone mount, an inch ortwo below the bottom of the wire cone.I want the bees to walk from thecone mount to the box, not fly."

Logged

"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

Here is what it looks like in the entrance after the larger queen right hive was put in place and filled two boxes, and to date is three mediums. It is going to be fun to bring this down to the ground after the job is done.

Yah, touching the top of the front wall is as close as I have been able to get the trap box knowing it is supposed to dump out on the porch, but my carpentering-things-to-trees skills are still being honed.

And this big hole project has sprung a leak. I have a hole in this one somewhere as well and need to go back this week to see where it is and plug it up. I will probably need to empty the cone as well, perhaps make the exit a bit larger too while I'm at it.

I'll update once I get it sealed again, hopefully this will be the last time.

Yah, touching the top of the front wall is as close as I have been able to get the trap box knowing it is supposed to dump out on the porch, but my carpentering-things-to-trees skills are still being honed.

And this big hole project has sprung a leak. I have a hole in this one somewhere as well and need to go back this week to see where it is and plug it up. I will probably need to empty the cone as well, perhaps make the exit a bit larger too while I'm at it.

I'll update once I get it sealed again, hopefully this will be the last time.

See ya!Superhoney!

Yea, mine ended up with some of the insulation breached on one side also. I went back and shot expanding foam around the outside and now is all good. Be careful not to make the hole to large or they will go back in.

Ok I think I go the hole plugged now. Strange thing was happening at the box though. I saw the same kind of grappling behavior when there is robbing going on, but there were not that many bees in the hive, and it seemed as though they were still clinging to the front of the hardware cloth on the tree a bunch so I couldn't figure out who was invading and who would be defending. All I could guess is the move in from the tree has started to occur, and there were actually bees there robbing. There were also many dead bees around the hive on the ground. Any other ideas about what was happening?

Either way there was action in the box and hopefully with a second frame of eggs something positive will happen on this trapout.